Canadian tire employees and an off-duty Mountie bagged a suspect caught stealing from the store warehouse.
Nanaimo RCMP were called at about 6:45 p.m. after an employee discovered someone had cut through a fence behind the store’s warehouse compound and was loading tools and other merchandise into a pickup truck.
Const. Sue Phillips, Nanaimo RCMP spokeswoman, said the theft in progress was discovered by an employee who went into the warehouse and found several thousand dollars worth of merchandise piled outside the fence.
The employee also encountered the suspect who was soon surrounded by other employees who joined in to prevent his escape, causing the suspect to become agitated and threatening.
“An off-duty member was in the store at the time,” Phillips said. “He became aware of the commotion and stepped in and arrested the suspect.”
The 23-year-old suspect from New Westminster was arrested for breaking and entering and breach of probation conditions, which included that he not attend any Canadian Tire store. He was held in custody and was scheduled to appear in Nanaimo provincial court Wednesday.
Police recovered all of the merchandise.